And he did evil in the eyes of YHWH, but not as the sovereigns of Yisra'el who were before him.

Shalmaneser sovereign of Ashshur came up against him. And Hoshea became his servant, and rendered him a present.

But the sovereign of Ashshur found a conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, sovereign of Mitsrayim, and had not brought a present to the sovereign of Ashshur, as year by year. And the sovereign of Ashshur shut him up, and bound him in prison.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the sovereign of Ashshur captured Shomeron and exiled Yisra'el to Ashshur, and settled them in Halah and Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Israel Exiled Because of Sin...

Now this came to be because the children of Yisra`el had sinned against YHWH their Elohim - who had brought them up out of the land of Mitsrayim, from under the hand of Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim - and feared other mighty ones,

and burned incense there on all the high places, like the gentiles whom YHWH had removed from their presence. And they did evil matters to provoke YHWH,

and served the idols, of which YHWH had said to them, 'Do not do this.'

And YHWH warned Yisra'el and Yehudah, through all of His prophets, and every seer, saying, 'Turn back from your evil ways, and guard My commands and My laws, according to all the Torah which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.'

But they did not listen and hardened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not put their trust in YHWH their Elohim,

and rejected His laws and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His witnesses which He had witnessed against them, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless, and after the gentiles who were all around them, of whom YHWH had commanded them not to do like them.

And the children of Yisra'el walked in all the sins of Yarob'am which he did. They did not turn away from them,

until YHWH removed Yisra'el from His presence, as He spoke by all His servants the prophets. So Yisra'el was exiled from their land to Ashshur, as it is to this day.

Samaria Resettled...

And the sovereign of Ashshur brought people from Babel, and from Kuthah, and from Awwa, and from Hamath, and Sepharwayim, and placed them in the cities of Shomeron instead of the children of Yisra`el. And they took possession of Shomeron and dwelt in its cities.

And it came to be, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear YHWH, and YHWH sent lions among them, which kept on slaying among them.

And they spoke to the sovereign of Ashshur, saying, 'The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Shomeron do not know the right-ruling of the Elohim of the land. And He has sent lions among them, and see, they are slaying among them because they do not know the right-ruling of the Elohim of the land.'

And the sovereign of Ashshur commanded, saying, 'Send one of the priests whom you exiled from there, to go there. Let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the right-ruling of the Elohim of the land.'

They also feared YHWH, and from every class they made for themselves priests of the high places, who offered for them in the house of the high places.

They were fearing YHWH, and they were serving their own mighty ones, according to the ruling of the nations from among whom they had been exiled.

To this day they are doing according to the former rulings: they are not fearing YHWH, nor do they follow their laws or their right-rulings, or the Torah and command which YHWH had commanded the children of Ya`aqob, whose name He made Yisra`el,